Scottish Government

About this guide

The Scottish Public Sector spends an estimated £8 billion each year on goods and services, and is continually looking for ways to improve its processes and make these opportunities easier to access. The existence of high quality and cost-competitive suppliers is a vital ingredient through which to achieve value for money in procurement expenditure. No matter what size your business is, there may be opportunities to become a supplier to this market.

This guide provides you with an overview of how to sell to the public sector in Scotland, the rest of the UK and in Europe, as well as tools and resources to assist you. It was originally published in October 2007 and has been updated to reflect changes to public procurement that have resulted from the Public Procurement Reform Programme.

The guide contains:

1.How the Public Sector works with Suppliers

2. Where to find contract opportunities

3.How to increase your chances of winning Public Sector Contracts

4.What information you will have to provide

5.How the Procurement Policy Framework works

6.An outline of who is responsible for buying across the public sector

7.The public procurement process

8.Where to go for more information